Game players have enjoyed playing games by operating game devices for themselves. In such well-known situations, the game devices normally include hardware for loading and running video game application software (i.e., video game application). Match-up games (e.g., baseball games) have been popular as video games to be run by such video game applications. To realize video games full of amusement, diversity has been embedded not only in types of the match-up but also in the other factors. As an example of diversity, the video games have been embedded with a function of allowing a game player to customize an ability of a game character (i.e., a player character) as a game player's operating target.
For example, Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2000-189677 describes a game system (a baseball game) including a schedule creating unit configured to create an action schedule of a player character. The game system is configured to change (e.g., enhance) an ability of the player character, for instance, through an instruction of causing the player character to perform a specific action. In the game system, it is assumed that a game player plays a nurturing mode of nurturing (i.e., enhances the ability of) the player character and then plays a match-up mode with another game player or computer, or alternatively, a game player alternately plays the nurturing mode and the match-up mode.
Now, so-called social games have been recently widespread. The social games are configured to be run by video game applications created based on the operating environment such as API (Application Programming Interface) to be operated on web browsers in SNS (Social Networking Service). The social games are a type of online games to be played by the unspecified majority of game players communicating with each other. However, unlike the well-known online games, the social games are not a type of games to be played by game players through video game devices with a communication function and video game software embedded therein. Therefore, game players are not required to install or download such video game software. In short, game players can execute social games if they bring web-browser embedded communication devices with them. For example, game players can enjoy playing social games regardless of time and places if they bring portable terminals accessible to the Internet with them.
Some of the aforementioned social games are of user friendly. In the cases of match-up types, the social games are often configured to allow game players to immediately confirm a result of a match-up. Therefore, such social games are now being accepted by game players who do not want to spend much time for playing games or game players who want to casually play games. On the other hand, the social games have a drawback that the game element thereof is simple for game players who have enjoyed playing games by operating the well-known game devices and such game players may thereby easily get bored. In a baseball game using a game device of the well-known type, for instance, a game player operating a batter character is required to perform an operation of causing the batter character to swing a bat towards a ball moving towards the batter character in an appropriate timing. When a baseball game is realized as a social game, by contrast, a simple operation of pressing a button without considering timing may be only required without requiring such an operation to be performed with concentration. Therefore, those game players who want to fully enjoy playing a baseball game are not satisfied with the baseball games to be realized as the social games. By contrast, those game players who want to casually enjoy playing a baseball game easily accept the baseball games to be realized as the social games due to simple operability thereof. Rather, simple operability can be an essential point for those game players who cannot spend much time for playing games.
The aforementioned well-known baseball games would be highly amusing in that an element of nurturing a player character is embedded therein. However, each game player is required to perform a time-consuming operation of nurturing a player character and subsequently playing match-ups with other game players or a computer. Therefore, it is not easy for a lot of game players, who want to enjoy playing games with a simple operation for a short period of time, to accept the well-known baseball games.
The present invention has been proposed in view of the above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a game control device, a game program, a game control method and a game system, which are full of amusement and allow a game player to play a game with a simple operation without getting the game player bored.